Remember the Forgotten
by Shining Apocalypse
Summary: Advent Children plot spin off. Basically, it follows the plot through the eyes of my OC. Why? Because I wanted to all those years ago. TINY bit of KadajxOC, rated T for language. Currently being rewritten and made better, to explore the SHM's characters.
1. Broken glass and broken memories

**ahem... yes well, rewrite time ^^ this chapter hasn't exactly been changed much, it was always the one I was happiest with, even though I moaned about how crap it was at the time. meh. I'm rewriting this story because I want to try and fix anything wrong with it, and also to make Enya into a more developed character. and to change some bits that I now think are a bit silly or just don't fit with what I want to do with the second one, when I get eventually round to that (I WILL DO IT, I WILL). The biggest changes will probably be made a bit later on in the fic, where I feel it gets... dodgy. meh. changey changey ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Advent Children. If I did, I would be very rich Japanese guy, which I am not. So all lawyers please back off as I do not wish to jeopardize my family's already diminished income. **

**And now...**

Light glinted off the shards of broken glass that lay strewn at her feet. It had been two years, two long years, since she had last been here. She glanced around at the chaotic destruction in the laboratory. So many memories leapt out at her, tainted memories that shone within those glistening shards of glass. She had never wanted to come back again. But she needed answers, and this was the only place left to search.

She had wandered around the world, searching, trying to hunt down her past. She had even looked through the old Shinra mansion in Nebeilheim, where she had met Vincent, who had promised to help her search for the answers she wanted. Together, they had looked through all they records they could find. But they found nothing. Vincent had sent her to Seventh Heaven, and left her in the care of Tifa. They had promised to help, willingly adding her troubles to their long list of problems, but in reality there was little they could do. They just had too much to do, and too many other, younger orphans to watch out for. And so, after a year of growing ever more frustrated with the lack fof answers, she had left for the last place.

And here she was, in the remains of the hidden Shinra laboratory that was all she had known throughout her childhood. Miles from anywhere, it was almost completely destroyed, the building slowly being eroded by time. She could recall its glory days, the day she first set foot in its once pristine halls, the first day of her life that she could sufficiently remember.

She had been found, lying as if dead, on a mountain side, by a SOLDIER. She had no memory of who she was, no faces, no sounds, nothing except a hollow feeling of betrayal. He had carried her to the laboratory, where he told her she would be cared for. When he asked her her name, she couldn't remember it.

"_That won't do," he said, smiling. "Lets call you Enya. Yes, Enya will do nicely."_

Five years later, he returned. She was fifteen, and famous among the scientists for being hot headed and stubborn. There was panic everywhere, the scientists all fled, running from his wrath. He strode towards her, terrifying anger and hatred in his eyes.

"_Sephiroth?" he ignored her, walking down into the basement, a place she had never been allowed to go, his long silver hair swinging behind him. She made to follow him. _

"_No Enya." A man had grabbed her by the shoulder with a shaking hand. She looked up angrily. It was a security guard, a young man called Mark. She opened her mouth, ready to protest, but stopped at the fear on his face. He was trembling, his skin grey, his dark hair plastered across his forehead with sweat. "You leave, you understand? You have to leave." He sounded so desperate, so afraid, that she was almost tempted to do as he said. Almost._

_She watched as Mark headed towards the basement door, slowly reaching for his pistol. He fumbled with the door handle, his hand slipping. "Go!" he hissed at her. Reluctantly, she turned and moved away, so that he would think she had gone, then hid so that she was half concealed by an open door. She watched as he continued to fumble, his shaking hand sweaty and clammy. Finally, he had opened the door down to the cellar, and he disappeared into the dark._

_She followed quietly, slowly descending the stairs into the darkness. An eerie light spilled out from the open door at the end of the hall. Mark was standing in the doorway, his pistol aimed at someone in the room. He wasn't shaking any more, and his kind features were fixed into an expression of grim resolve. She crept forwards. She could see the light spilling from the room, and the long silver hair that could belong to one person only. She realised who Mark was aiming his gun so steadily at. He was going to shoot Sephiroth. She didn't know why, but she couldn't let him do that. She tiptoed closer. She would get behind him, stop him... _

_And then Enya screamed as there was a sudden flash of movement followed by a disturbing hollow silence. Hot, sticky red sprayed across her face, as the headless body fell to the floor with a heavy thud. She tried to suppress the urge to vomit and scream at the same time, watching in horror as the head rolled away from her. She stared at the bleeding corpse, her gaze trapped by the beheaded man, the shock still vibrating through every fibre of her body._

"_Enya?"_

_She couldn't look at him, she couldn't, not when he had just killed a man, a man who Enya had known for years, a man who's blood was rapidly drying on her face, a man who was now lacking a head..._

"_Enya? Enya look at me." His tone was strong, commanding, and could not be ignored. With all her strength, she forced her eyes to look up. He was standing in the doorway, framed by that strange light from the room behind. His face had changed. His eyes... his eyes had changed. There was something there now. Something filled with hate._

"_He tried to kill me Enya."_

"_Yes... he did..." She glanced back down and wished she hadn't. The urge to vomit rose again. Her throat burned with the taste of it. She realised that she was shaking._

"_He needed to die. He was a traitor. He was not worthy. He tried to kill me. You understand that, yes?" She nodded stiffly. He was right, he was always right, he had to be right. And Mark had tried to shoot him. It was self defence. Yes... self defence... She stood up, and followed Sephiroth's beckoning fingers._

"_What's going on?" she asked as they moved into the room. In the __centre__, attached to beeping monitors with flashing lights, were three huge tanks, almost like giant fish tanks, filled with a green liquid. She had seen similar things on the upper floors, but not on such a scale._

_There were shapes, lights, moving within the tanks, swirling around in the glowing green sludge. In each individual tank, there were orbs of slightly different colours, moving, dancing, congregating on a single point that was suspended in the centre of the bizarre substance. It was beautiful, and very, very strange to behold._

"_I discovered the truth, Enya. The truth about who I am," Sephiroth was saying harshly, the hate etched on his face. It was an expression she had never seen on him before. It scared her. "I will make them pay Enya. Make them pay for what they did to my mother, and for making me live this lie. Together, my mother and I will destroy this world, and create a new world, with a new future. We will go to the Promised Land, and the unworthy will burn away."_

"_But... but __I thought your mother was dead..." she said slowly, frowning. That was what she had been told when she had asked. Sephiroth's mother was dead._

"_Dead? No, they would not kill the last of the Cetra. They imprisoned her, used her to create living machines of war, but they would not kill her."_

"_Cetra?"_

"_The Ancients."_

"_Oh," she said, suddenly filled with shock and awe. Well, that explained everything. The Ancients were legendary, were all the scientists seemed to talk about. No wonder Sephiroth was so powerful, if he was one of that famed race. _

_The scientists. It hit her. They had all been afraid, and Sephiroth ... he had just killed someone. And now ... now there were these strange things in these strange tanks ... "Why are you here?" she asked, as the seed of nervous fear began to grow. This was not the Sephiroth she knew. She had only spoken with him a few times, but he had been kind, someone to whom she looked up to. She had admired him above all others, but now he was definitely ... different._

"_There is much I must do," he said, a strange smile now upon his face. It was slightly insane, and highly worrying. "I have a lot of work, if the dream is to become a reality." The smile widened, and he nodded to himself. "Yes, a lot of work. And I am here to ensure that I won't fail. I am here to make sure that the legacy will continue if things go wrong. And I have a job for you, Enya."_

"_What job? I don't understand __..." she began, but she trailed off as she caught sight of the tank in the middle. The liquid inside began to swirl more violently, as those lifestream-like orbs slowly slid together, finally meeting, glowing azure, violet, silver and sapphire. They twisted and turned, slowly grouping together and merging, taking on a vague, indistinct shape. The shape grew rapidly, swiftly expanding, growing limbs and hair and a face, until there before her was the figure of a young man, slender and beautiful._

_She moved towards the tank, transfixed by what she was seeing. The shape had grown features, pure and sharp and somewhat feminine. He looked to be older than her, and yet his face still held childlike qualities in his cheeks and slightly pouting lips. He was clad in black leather, clinging to his chest like a second skin, and there was a scabbard strapped to his back. His shoulder length silver hair trailed over his closed eyes, floating in that strange green liquid. Enya felt a delicious shudder run down her back. He looked like a drowned man._

_In the other tanks a similar thing was happening. Two more men had been formed, one with long hair, the other with short hair and sideburns. They appeared to be older than the youth in the centre, but not by much. They all shared a resemblance with Sephiroth, though the one with short hair didn't look much like him._

"_What are they?" she whispered, astounded, astonished. She had never seen anything like it._

"_My brothers, my siblings, the remnants of mother's legacy. Created almost entirely from her, they are our last resort. If I fail, they will awaken, and finish what I have started," he smiled again, that same deranged, terrifying smile._

"_Finish?"_

"_Yes. Stay here, and I will come for you when mother's wishes have been for filled. And if I fail, they will help you, they will complete the quest. They will finish it for mother."_

"_But why-" she began, but he cut her off._

"_Enya listen! There isn't time for me to explain. You must stay here. It is ... too dangerous for you to leave. You could be hurt, or killed, and I don't want that. I need you to watch over them, alright? I don't want anything bad to happen to my brothers before they awaken, you can't let anyone else near them, you get it?" _

_Enya nodded, feeling very important. Sephiroth needed her to look after his brothers. How could she deny him such a request? He was Sephiroth, First Class SOLDIER, Last of the Ancients, super powerful, always right, and he had asked for **her **help. Of course she would do as he said. Who would do otherwise?_

"_Good. You understand. They will need your help while in this useless state. You watch over them, you keep them safe," he stopped and looked towards his floating, unconscious brothers. He closed his eyes, as though listening to something far off that she couldn't hear. "Kadaj will look after you, if you look after him now."_

"_Who?" Enya asked, confused._

_Sephiroth gestured toward the young man in the tank. "My brother, Kadaj. Youngest of the three, yet he will be their leader. Mother has made him strong."_

"_What are the others called?"_

"_He's Yazoo," he said, pointing towards the one with long hair. "And the other's Loz. Mother and I decided on their names before I came here.". He stopped again, apparently listening intently. "I need to go. I have a lot to do. Goodbye Enya. I will come for you when it is time. Watch over them until then." He turned away and walked out the door, not looking back once, leaving her alone in the dark with the three sleeping spirits._

She had stayed, like he asked. She spent most of her time in the basement, talking to Kadaj and his brothers even though she knew they probably couldn't hear her. It was better than upstairs, where the dark lonely corridors seemed to move all around her. For a while, she had been scared to leave, scared to walk past the steadily rotting security guard at the base of the stairs. The smell had been awful for a while, but he was shortly eaten by the rats that moved in and had swiftly been reduced to gnawed bones and faded cloth. She only ventured up to find food, which was a rapidly dwindling resource, and to collect her things from her room.

Then there was the crisis, when Midgar died. And then ... and then, they woke up.

She was down in the basement, muttering quietly to herself when it happened. She heard a strange sloshing noise.

She stood up, and walked tentatively towards Kadaj's tank. He had moved - his head was now tilted downwards instead of lolling against his shoulders and his fists had clenched tightly. As she approached, he lifted his head up, and stared at her with his amazing eyes. Green, fathomless, with slit-like pupils. Deadly, dangerous mako eyes. Enya lost herself in them, as she gazed through the glass, transfixed by those beautiful, terrifying eyes. It felt as though he could see deep into her soul.

The moment was broken by a loud bang from Yazoo's tank. Glass shattered, the liquid oozed, and Yazoo fell out and lay gasping on the floor like a fish out of water. Enya stifled a scream, clapping her hand across her mouth and hid behind a table.

She peeked out nervously. Yazoo had stood up, shaking his long silver hair, and picked up his gun. There was a crash, more shattering of glass, and then Loz was standing beside him, dripping that green liquid. The two brothers looked at each other for a long moment.

Then Yazoo nodded to Loz, who smashed his fist into the glass of Kadaj's tank. Kadaj fell out, gasping for air and only semi-conscious. Yazoo caught him, and put him back on his feet, but he fell again. He seemed too weak to stand.

"Come on," Yazoo muttered. He picked Kadaj up and let him lean on his shoulder.

"We need to go," Kadaj croaked. "Mother... Mother needs us... we have to find her..."

"We know, Kadaj, we know."

"Let's get out of here," said Loz. He walked over to Kadaj and together he and Yazoo pulled their little brother along while he lent on their shoulders. As they reached the door, he looked backwards, to where Enya was hiding. His eyes found hers, and yet again she was lost in them. Then Kadaj was pulled away, through the door and away, leaving her petrified and alone.

That was two years ago. It had taken her a while to work up the courage, but eventually she had left the laboratory in search of ... something, anything. For a while, she had wandered aimlessly around, and by the providence of some higher being, or just pure luck, she had managed to avoid being devoured by some beast and found people who would look after her. But she had no meaning, had lost her sense of self and her only purpose. She wanted something more.

So she had come back, looking for answers, wanting to know who, or what, she was. She had been searching for so long and this was the last place to look. She sighed and turned away from the wreck that was the basement, pausing in the place where Mark-the-security-guard had lost his head and his life. The bones were gone now, taken by some animal, or perhaps somebody had come to claim them. She didn't know and didn't care to find out.

She walked up the stairs, into the gray light that filled the upper floors. Enya went up another flight of stairs and into the main office on the first floor. It had held all the records of everything that happened in the laboratory, before Sephiroth scared the scientists off.

Damp paper littered the rotting floor. She sighed. This search was going to take a long time. She bent down and began sorting through the papers, her heart starting every time she saw her name. But there was nothing that told her what she was, just the occasional rubbish about her behaviour or physical and mental health. Apparently they had been monitoring her, but they did that to everyone, including the scientists themselves. She almost screamed in frustration. There was nothing here, nothing about her arrival or her past. There was nothing anywhere.

Then the distant sound of raised voices caught her attention. She strode over to the window, the damp, worm riddled floorboards creaking ominously under her feet. She could just see two figures walking towards the building. Actually, they were two rather familiar figures. Two rather familiar figures with silver hair.

"I'm just saying I don't see why we have to come here Kadaj. We took all the information we could the last time we were here!" shouted one of them, one with short hair.

"We might have missed something," said the one with shoulder length hair.

"There's nothing there! Me and Yazoo looked all over the place before we left!"

"We still could have missed something."

They vanished from sight as they headed into the building, now in silence. She could hear their footsteps on the floor below.

_Why are they here?_ thought Enya, a sense of nervousness now settling in her belly. She felt a certain indignant hatred towards them now. They had left her, when Sephiroth had promised her that they would protect her, after she had watched over them for several long months. And Sephiroth had lied. Everything he ever said was a lie, that she was almost sure of, even if he himself had not realised it at the time. Vincent and the others had told her all about what Sephiroth had tried to do, all the people he killed. She was fairly certain he would not have tried to save her, that all he said had been a beautiful lie to get her to do what he wanted. It hardly made her feel particularly good about herself.

Her mind raced as she considered what she might do. _Maybe they have the papers I'm looking for..._ she thought. Loz _had _said that they took information before hand. She looked down again and steeled her self. She turned to leave. Foolish as it probably was, she was going to confront them. It was high time, she thought, that _someone_ gave her some form of an answer to her many and varied questions, and these shadows of Sephiroth might just be the people to give her those answers.

But as she stepped away from the window, the floorboards underneath her gave way, the damp, rotten wood crumbling beneath her feet, taking half the wall with it. She was falling. The ground floor lobby was coming closer. Debris battered her from above. She felt a searing pain in her side. Then blackness took her...

**This has been updated a third time now. I just can't leave these things alone ^^ which is why most of the stuff I write doesn't get shown anywheres. However, I think this is the final version. I'm fairly happy with it.**


	2. Silver Haired Saviour

**Well, this is rather later than I wanted it to be. I don't have an excuse or a reason for its lateness, I just suck. Well, to be fair I have been very busy and also away quite a lot and I have exams and blaaaaaaah, but its mostly because I suck. Sorry.**

**Anywhoo, I changed this chapter quite a lot... mainly because as I read through the old one, all I could think of was it sucking. Plus, it needed to be changed to be more consistent with the changes in the first chapter. eh. fun. ooh, Disclaimer, me no own, you no sue, me no get angry and sad and unable to spend copious amounts of money on presents for people and Japanese music ... they ... they take aaaaaaall my money ...**

**Silver-Haired Saviours**

Her heart was pounding in her head, each pulse bringing a fresh wave of pain. The left side of her face felt hot and sticky, and something somewhere seemed to be bleeding. The air was heavy with dust, which coated her tongue as she tried to breathe. She couldn't feel her right leg properly. It had gone numb from the knee down, and her thigh felt as though it was burning. _How odd_, she thought. Then she stopped thinking. Thinking seemed to cause her even more pain.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Shh!"

The words rattled around her brain, stirring something deep within the muddled darkness of her sluggish mind. The voices ... she knew those voices ... didn't she? Voices ...

She forced her eyes to open, just for a moment. Everything was fuzzy, and she tried her best to focus on the shiny thing just a few inches away from her face. Slowly, the fuzziness began to clear, and she realised she was looking at the tip of something long, silver, and very very sharp. Her eyes snapped back shut. Her head hurt. A lot.

"It's a girl."

"How can you be sure about anything like that when we have Yazoo for a brother? Or the fact that you insist that you're male, for that matter?"

"She has boobs."

"Modern miracles of surgery and all that ..."

"Loz, why the hell are we discussing this?"

"Just saying. Also, why haven't you got at me for basically saying you and Yazoo look like/are girls?"

"I'm saving it."

Enya whimpered. There was a strange creaking sound. Someone poked her in the stomach.

"What's she doing here anyway?"

"How should I know?"

She opened her eyes a small amount and twitched her fingers. Slowly, she was coming back to her senses. Unfortunately, that also meant that the pain increased somewhat.

Eventually, She managed to open her eyes once more and looked up. Someone was leaning over her, and regarding her with beautiful green eyes, his head tilted to one side, like a curious cat. She gazed up at him, blankly. She should know him ... why didn't she know him?

"Oh shit ..." she muttered, so quietly that it was barely a whisper.

"Now, now, there's no need to be rude," said the leather-clad figure above her. She ignored him, concentrating on lifting her head to observe the damage done to her. The painful pounding intensified, and sickly dizziness was crowding her senses. Slowly, the dizziness faded, and she became dimly aware of the fact that half the wall and a very large filing cabinet from the floor above had fallen on top of the lower half of her body, trapping and probably crushing her leg. She stared for a moment, trying to make sense of it.

She let her head fall back with a groan, then wished she hadn't as her head hit the hard surface beneath her. Her breathing became fast, desperate, as the strange, pain-laced emptiness was swiftly replaced by those wonderful emotions known as panic and fear. She was trapped. She lay at the mercy of these people, these voices, those curious, oddly familiar glowing eyes with a sharp shiny sword. Unless they helped her, she'd die.

The dying thing seemed to be the most likely outcome.

"Come on Kadaj, lets find Yazoo and go. I'm bored." Kadaj ... yes, she knew that name, knew those eyes ... Kadaj ...

"What if she knows something?"

"She'll be dead soon enough. Not much point in asking her anything, she'll be gone soon."

"True. But I figure we can't take any chances. We know too little about it all, and she must be here for a reason" There was another creak as he leaned in closer, his silver hair swinging forward, a small frown on his slightly childish face. "Who are you?" he asked softly. His voice seemed to prod her feeble, battered brain into working slightly.

She took a deep breath, trying to recall the ability to construct a proper sentence. She was struggling to remember her own name. "Enya," she whispered chokingly. The word felt like it left scratches in her dry, dusty throat, as though the very syllables had sharp edges that grated and scraped.

His frown deepened slightly, his brow crinkled, and he thought for a moment. Then, smiling slightly, he leaned in even closer, and spoke in a hushed voice. It was as if he was a child about to include her in a big secret. "Do you know where Mother is?"

She just stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head the smallest amount possible. _What is he talking about?_ she thought. She had no idea.

He drew back, looking disappointed. Sighing, he stood up, and turned to go.

"No!" she murmured quickly, finding her voice as the desperate will to live finally kicked in. He looked back at her questioningly. "Please," she said, slightly ashamed as tears burnt in her eyes, though she wasn't really sure why. If any time was a good time to cry, now was probably it. "Please ... don't leave me alone." He shrugged and walked away. "No! Please Kadaj! Please!" she sobbed, crying fully now as the pain and hopelessness took over.

He stopped. "You know me?" he asked without turning.

"Y-yes," she stammered, finding it impossible to keep her voice steady."I w-was there, r-remember? When you w-w-woke up ..." She trailed off.

"What's she talking about Kadaj? We've never seen her before! She wasn't there!" said the other, Loz, angrily.

"P-Please Kadaj!" she implored. "You saw me. I know you did. You- you saw me ..." She closed her eyes, feeling sick, her strength almost gone. She didn't see him as he silently came back towards her, staring intently at her limp, pathetic, doomed body as she lay broken amongst the rubble. There was no pity in his gaze, only a confused look of half recognition.

"Why were you there, Enya?"

"He told me to wait ..." came the feeble reply.

"Who?" he asked urgently, although he had a very good idea as to whom this _he _was. But he needed conformation, he needed to know.

"Sephiroth ..."

There was a silence broken only by Enya's harsh breathing. The pain was becoming unbearable. She didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Every breath took immense effort, the dusty air grating at her throat, her head pounding with each fluttering heart beat, the agony increasing with every long second that passed. She knew that these moments of excruciating pain were likely to be the last few seconds of her life. It was not, she felt, a good way to go.

"Move that thing Loz."

"What?!"

"Move it!" commanded Kadaj.

Loz shook his head at his younger brother, slightly perplexed, but knew better than to argue with his youngest brother when he was using _that _tone of voice. And so Loz picked his way over the wreckage and cleared some of the smaller pieces of debris from around Enya's legs, muttering under his breath the entire time.

Enya opened her eyes, vaguely feeling movement around her. Kadaj bent down beside her once more and slipped his arms underneath her, causing her to gasp and bite her lip. Loz then grasped the huge filing cabinet in both arms, tensing himself against its weight. Kadaj nodded, and he pulled it away with ease, as Kadaj lifted her out of the rubble. It was too much. The pain was too much. Her leg seared, her side burned and her head throbbed with this debilitating, mind-numbing pain. And then everything faded again, and there was nothing.

The next thing she knew was that she was outside. She could feel grass beneath her and there were birds singing. And there was no pain. She didn't feel ... anything much, just a strange tingling that ran through her entire body. _Am I dead?_ she thought to herself.

"No," came a voice. "But you almost were."

She didn't think she had said anything out loud. She reached up and rubbed her eyes. _Wow, _she thought, _I can move! _She opened her eyes and looked around. The sky was blue above her, a few large clouds dotted across it like giant lost sheep. She blinked, the tingling increasing. Then there was a different feeling, a much less pleasant one. She rolled onto her side, convulsed, and vomited into the grass.

"Lovely," said the voice.

Coughing and spitting, Enya sat up and glanced around. She was outside the old lab, on the overgrown patch of rough grass that separated the forest from the building. There was someone sitting next to her, watching her through green eyes framed with silver. Not Kadaj though, nor Loz.

"Yazoo?" she croaked. He nodded, looking at her with an inquisitive expression on his feminine face. She looked down at her side, where something had ripped a hole in her shirt. She moved the ragged, stained material aside, and saw a thin, bright pink line about five inches long on her skin. A scar.

"We found the materia," he said, answering the question before she could ask it. "In your bag," he added. "Your leg will take longer to heal though."

She ran her hands through her hair, feeling very odd and very confused. One of her fingers got stuck in a tangled matted mass of hair and dried blood. She tugged it out, wincing as it pulled on the hair.

"Find anything?" Yazoo asked someone behind her.

"Nothing," said Kadaj as he came out of the lab with Loz. "If there was anything, it's lost now."

"What about her?" asked Loz, nodding towards Enya. "Why did you save her?"

"She might know something. She has something to do with this building, why else would she be here?"

Loz shrugged. "I dunno," he said.

"Of course you don't," said Yazoo haughtily. "You don't know anything."

"Oh don't you start," grumbled Loz sulkily.

"Aww, is Lozzikins gonna cry?" Yazoo teased.

Kadaj had gone over to Enya. He glanced at the puddle of sick next to her, but decided not to comment. They stared at each other in silence while Yazoo and Loz bickered.

"I saw you," he blurted, almost angrily. It was an odd thought, that she had been there at what was essentially his birth. He didn't like it. It felt ... wrong, almost perverted.

"Yes."

"You knew _him_?"

She didn't need to ask which _him _he was referring to. "Yes," she answered simply.

"You ... you knew Sephiroth?"

"Yes," she repeated. "I knew him. Or at least, I thought that I did." She drew her left knee up, and hugged it, staring at the ground. She still couldn't move her right leg.

Kadaj knelt down by her feet, trying to get her to look him in the eye. He put a gloved hand on her knee and tilted her head so she was looking at him with the other. She found herself caught in his eyes, just like that time in the basement. They were so beautiful ... so extraordinary ...

"Do you know of the Quest?" he asked, his voice hushed and secretive again. She nodded. Then she noticed it had gone quiet. Yazoo and Loz had stopped arguing and were now listening to the exchange intently. "You know what we are trying to do?"

"I think so," she whispered.

For a minute, nobody moved. Then Kadaj stood up and looked at his brothers. "We'll take her with us," he said.

"What?" cried Enya and Loz. Yazoo simply frowned.

"We'll take her with us," Kadaj repeated.

"She'll slow us down," Yazoo pointed out. "She can't walk yet. She might never be able to walk properly."

Enya snapped her head round to look at Yazoo, her eyes wide with shock. _Now he tells me_, she thought. _I figured it was only temporary ... _

"She knew him," Kadaj was saying. "We didn't. She might know things that we don't."

"How do you know she's telling the truth?" asked Loz, glaring at her.

"Because she was there Loz, I saw her. I remember."

Loz opened his mouth to retaliate, when Yazoo said softly, "The voice ..."

"What?"

"Remember? Sometimes someone was talking, someone who wasn't Mother." He nodded towards Enya. "It could have been her."

"See?" said Kadaj triumphantly. "She was there."

"Okay, so if she _is_ telling the truth and she knows stuff, why don't we just get it out of her now?"

"She's suffered some serious head wounds. She won't be able to remember an awful lot for a while."

"We could _make _her remember though. With some ... persuasion ..."

"Loz, I don't think she wants to sleep with you."

"Wha- NO! I didn't mean that kind of persuasion! Pervert! No, I meant, you know, the persuasion with thumbscrews and torture and pain ..."

"Why Loz, I didn't realise you were into such kinky things," chuckled Yazoo. Kadaj rolled his eyes.

"Adding more pain won't help," said Kadaj, and Enya breathed a sigh of relief. Torture was not on her list of favourite pastimes. Then again, neither was being crushed by a filing cabinet and being 'rescued' by Sephiroth's younger brothers with their huge and somewhat terrifying Oedipal-type complexes.

"Fine. But I'm not going to do anything to help you lug her around," said Loz sulkily.

"What if I don't want to come with you?" asked Enya, trying to hide any trace of fear that might be in her voice. She failed miserably.

Kadaj blatantly ignored her. "She's not exactly big. It'll be easy."

"Um, excuse me ...?"

"She's bigger than you!"

"Loz, most people are bigger than Kadaj ..."

"Must you find fault with everything I say?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It's one of my great callings in life."

"You ... you suck, Yazoo!"

"Ooh, good comeback."

"So it's settled then," said Kadaj, interrupting angrily and glaring round at his bickering brothers. "We take her with us."

"Whatever," shrugged Yazoo. Loz just grumbled unintelligibly.

"But ... I don't want to go with you! I want to go home!" she managed weakly.

Kadaj frowned at her, looking at her as if she was stupid. "Since when did your opinion matter?" he asked coldly. "You're coming with us because _I_ say so. _You _have no choice."

"And how did you plan on getting home anyways?" asked a peeved Loz. "Or have you forgotten that you can't walk?"

Enya opened her mouth, then shut it. She buried her face in her hands and groaned.

Footsteps approached her, and she was roughly lifted up, and made to stand on her feet. She retched again as the strange tingling intensified, but there was nothing left to come up. She wobbled unsteadily, and almost fell back. Even though there was no pain, she couldn't put any weight on her right leg, or control it at all. It just sort of flopped uselessly after her and made balancing almost impossible.

"Oh come on," said Kadaj's impatient voice. Irritably, he half lifted, half dragged her out from the clearing, and towards three large, filthy motorbikes, one of which she was unceremoniously dumped on to.

"Stay there," ordered Kadaj.

"Yeah, like she's going anywhere else, Kadaj."

Kadaj glared. Loz shut up.

Quickly, Kadaj climbed onto the bike in front of her, his brothers following suit and mounting their own bikes. She looked around uncertainly.

"Hold on," said Kadaj over his shoulder. She nervously complied, tentatively taking hold of his waist, as he started up the engine and they sped off.

_Dammit! Why is this happening to me? Have I done something to piss someone up there off? Well, have I? _The bike lurched, and she found herself clinging desperately to Kadaj, terrified she was about to be thrown off, burying her face into his leather-encased back. _He's so damn slim ... he's thinner than I am! How is that fair? _She shook herself. What silly thoughts. She must still be out of it.

Her head did indeed still feel sort of fuzzy, and the wind howling in her ears wasn't helping her current blurry state. It brought tears to her eyes and whipped at her face, stinging her skin. She wondered how long this journey would last.

"Where are we going?" she shouted over the roaring of the wind, unsure whether he heard her or not, and not really expecting an answer from him anyway.

But Kadaj surprised her. A one word answer, unaccompanied by sarcasm or scathingly witty remark.

"Ajit."

**Also been edited again. I am never happy with anything. God damn my perfectionism. **


	3. Home Sweet Home

**Well, next chapter. Yet again, very different to the old one. And yet again, sorry for the wait for an update, and thank you to reviewers and the people who've alerted me and my story. Love you all ^^ But dear God I suck at getting things done.**

**You knows the Disclaimer. Me no own, you no sue. Oh, and yukidaruma. Just because that word makes me happy ^^ Anywhoo...**

**Home Sweet Home ...**

It was cold. Very, very cold. The wind was roaring all around her, dust and flies shooting at her at tremendous speeds, causing small splats of pain when they landed. And it was freezing cold. And dark. And cold.

Enya shivered on the back of the bike, wishing fervently that she had never gone back to her old home. In retrospect, the whole thing was definitely a terrible idea. She should have remained safely in Edge and just worked on making a future for herself, rather than pointlessly worrying about the past.

It's a shame that the best ideas only ever seem to occur to you after it's too late to put them into practice.

The silver-haired youth before her hadn't said a thing since they had set off, and she had made no attempt to engage him in conversation. She just held on for dear life as the bike flew over the uneven terrain, certain that at any minute it was going to jerk and she'd be thrown off, which at this speed would almost definitely be somewhat fatal.

Eventually, she felt the wind lessen as the bike began to slow down. Nervously, she raised her head and looked around. White, eerie trees glowed through the darkness, shining with a strange, otherworldly light. She loosened her previously manically tight grip on Kadaj, and looked around in amazement.

They turned down a different path, and the odd, glowing trees grew much sparser, before finally coming to a stop outside a rundown, giant shell-type ... thing. Enya regarded it with great confusion.

She wobbled worryingly as Kadaj elegantly dismounted the bike, suddenly very unbalanced now she had lost the only thing that had been supporting her. "Come on then," he said commandingly.

She blinked at him, before trying to swing one leg over and off the bike, and found herself fighting to keep her balance. With one final wobble, she gave up the struggle and flopped gracelessly to the floor. "Ow ..." she moaned, while Loz sniggered cruelly at her. Yazoo and Kadaj just smirked.

She struggled into a sitting position, pushing her filthy hair from her eyes. Once more, she had to fight away tears. Today _really_ wasn't her day.

Yet again, she was lifted up, and a large stick was thrust into her hands.

"So you don't use me as a walking stick again," said Kadaj, before he turned and went into the big shell-type thing. Enya frowned at this strange act of abrupt kindness, then hobbled after him, very clearly muttering, "I never asked you to be my walking stick."

She entered the shell-type-house thing, closely followed by Yazoo and Loz. She looked around bleakly. It did not look like a particularly comfortable place to live/be held captive in. It was very dark and gloomy, and it stunk of damp. Some of the walls had holes in.

"Home sweet home," said Loz, yawning widely.

_Oh joy ..._ thought Enya.

Exhausted, she collapsed on a creaky, spindly chair, taking in her very dismal surroundings as an extremely disheartening feeling began to grow in her chest. Why oh why could she have just not stayed at Seventh Heaven, where there were beds and food and a ready supply of alcohol?

The few pieces of furniture were old and ragged, and it didn't look as though the place had ever seen hot water. She had grown used to that simple comfort during her time with Cloud and co. and was not looking forward to living without it again.

Everything was dilapidated, from the crumbling walls to the damp floors, but the brothers didn't seem to notice or care. Enya groaned to herself. She didn't even want to know what the kitchen was like, _if_ there was a kitchen for that matter.

She suddenly felt more tired than ever as depression well and truly settled it's ugly self onto her shoulders. She felt like just falling asleep, falling asleep and never waking up ...

She was vaguely aware that she was being carried again, and that someone was talking to her, but she was too damn tired to care. All she knew was that she was being placed on a bed with surprising gentleness. With one last, jaw breaking yawn, she curled up and drifted off into a feverish sleep ...

...

When she awoke to the dusty morning light, she was pleased to feel a strange tickling running along the top of her thigh. Slowly but surely, it seemed that the feeling in her leg was going to return, which was immensely relieving. She stretched, then froze when she found herself once more staring into a pair of inquisitive green eyes.

"You were talking in your sleep," Kadaj stated, looking down at her imperiously.

"I was?"

"Yes. What were you dreaming about?"

"I ... I can't remember," Enya said, blinking up at him sleepily.

"You sounded happy," pressed Kadaj, clearly wanting a better answer.

"I told you. I can't remember."

Kadaj gave her a withering look, before leaving the room without another word. She pulled a face at his back, then lay back down, and tried to figure out exactly how she got into this mess.

Well, it was simple enough. She had been impatient, and stupid, and had disappeared off to a dangerous, dilapidated old Shinra-lab and anybody who might have cared didn't have a clue as to where she had gone. She realised how incredibly stupid she had been – she didn't have any powers or special strengths that she was aware of, and so wouldn't be able to properly defend herself if something went wrong. And how very wrong it had gone. The only thing she had was the small amount of materia she had 'borrowed' from Cloud's little collection. She had been very, very stupid. And was well aware of it.

The Seventh Heaven lot probably wouldn't really be all that bothered if she just disappeared, she figured. She had just been yet another confused orphan, wanting to know who she was. There were a lot of people like her. The old Shinra corporation had destroyed so many families, messed up so many lives and erased so many memories that orphans with amnesia where now commonplace. And Sephiroth had almost destroyed everything, the world had yet to recover. People were still dying for bizarre reasons, or because of the dreaded star-scar syndrome. Children were still being left without parents or a home, and Enya was just one of many who had no recollection of who she was or why she was there. She was not alone in her loneliness, which, if possible, just made it all the more worse.

She probably would never find out who she had been, and she was caring less and less about it. It just felt as though it was too much trouble to be doing with. And anyway, she thought, she might not want to know. She might not remember it because it was so horrible that she had blanked it out. Or something along those lines.

They had promised to help, Tifa, Cloud and the others. But they promised to help almost everyone. Helping people was what they did, it was part of who they were. But Enya had grown tired of waiting. She had set out on her own, and now regretted it tremendously.

It had been difficult to find the old lab again. It had been hidden away, and her memory was still fuzzy. But she had managed it, and had managed to avoid the large majority of monsters that attempted to waylay her. And then she had got there, and found ... nothing. Only a decaying ruin filled with useless files and rotten floorboards. Nothing. It was a huge waste of time.

But then _they _had found her. Ultimately, she was still alive because of them. They had saved her, and as she lay there in her growing despair, she couldn't help but feel perhaps it would have been better if she had just died. She wasn't normally prone to such thoughts, but she had never felt so useless before, never felt so lost and abandoned.

Sephiroth had once said that she was special. She had looked up to him and admired him, just the same as everyone else. She had felt so proud when he had called her that, so proud that she had stayed down in the dark with his sleeping brothers in an attempt to make him praise her again. But she wasn't special. She was stupid, and useless, a lonely child in a world of orphans, and it was quite a depressing realisation.

She didn't look up as she heard footsteps approaching, and pulled the bedclothes over her head. She didn't feel as though she could face any of her captors at the moment. Whoever it was paused in her doorway, before walking back down the stairs. She felt a rush of relief and remained hiding under the blankets until she drifted off and fell once more into an uneasy sleep.

When she finally woke up again, it was dark, and a growling hunger was curling in her belly. That strange tickling sensation on her leg was still there. She decided it was time to try moving. She was fairly sure it was a bad idea, and she didn't really want to go find any of the three brothers, but her stomach was telling her that it was definitely time to be fed, and her throat was in need of a drink. Also, her bladder was certain of a very _pressing _need as well.

Sighing heavily, Enya edged towards the side of the bed and tentatively placed her good leg on the floor. So far so good.

Her right leg had stiffened horribly during her sleep and was now locked and rigid instead of floppy and completely uncontrollable. Perhaps this was a good thing, she reckoned, as she might be able to actually put weight on the injured limb. She dragged it round with her arms, so now she was perched on the edge of the bed.

And now for the hard part. Tensing her muscles, she pushed her self upwards and struggled to her very unstable feet. She felt rather pleased with herself.

She hobbled to the door, dragging her right leg behind her. Then her head began to spin and she collapsed into an undignified heap with a rather large bang.

Enya screamed in frustration, beating the floor with her fist. She regretted it. It hurt.

"Kadaj does that sometimes," commented a calm, soft voice. Enya looked around wildly to see where it was coming from, when Yazoo came out of the shadows in the corner of the room. Enya stared. He had been there the whole time, and she just hadn't noticed. He must have been.

"Does what?" she spat angrily at him. He was looking down at her, seemingly vaguely amused. This infuriated her.

"Has a tantrum like a three year old. His are more violent though."

Enya made a rather rude hand gesture at him. Yazoo merely looked at her in that same distant manner. She wished he'd stop it – it freaked her out. It was almost like there was something ... missing from his eyes.

"Why are you in here anyway?" she grumbled at him, grasping at the door frame as she tried to haul herself back onto her feet. She stopped when she realised she wasn't strong enough, and was only providing Yazoo with more vague amusement.

"Kadaj told me to watch you," he replied simply.

"Why?"

"In case you did something stupid."

"Like what?"

"Like try to get up."

Enya drooped, both furious and terribly depressed. She was not going to be able to stand up and Yazoo did not look particularly inclined to help her. She grumbled and swore to herself while Yazoo simply watched her, that same distant smirk firmly in place on his feminine features.

Scowling, she dragged herself back towards the bed and slumped against it, muttering as many curses as she could possibly think of under her breath. Her leg was extremely difficult to manoeuvre, and her arms started to ache from pulling herself around. _Well_, she thought, _this is a load of shit, isn't it?_

Yazoo was chuckling quietly to himself. "What're you laughing at?" Enya snapped as her stomach growled.

"You. You're funny."

He was still just watching her, making no move to help, the strange amused emptiness in his eyes more pronounced than ever, his long silver hair shining in the weak moonlight that was struggling through the closed curtains. He looked so like _him _for a moment, a younger shorter version of_ him_, and she shuddered as she realised that here, in Yazoo, was a side to Sephiroth that she had never known – cold, aloof, and cruel. Her suffering only served to further amuse him.

"Why were you trying to move?"

"I'm hungry. Hungry and thirsty and I need the toilet."

Yazoo frowned very slightly. He didn't seem to understand something. "How odd ..."

"How is that _odd_? Don't you need to eat?"

"I do," said Yazoo blankly. "I just don't get hungry."

Enya just stared at him. He shook his head to himself. "How strange," he muttered. "How ... normal ..."

Then he nodded, seemingly deciding something, and floated out of the room, his movements barely making a sound. He really was like a spirit, a ghostly shadow.

Enya listened as the early morning silence settled all around her. Her body ached and tingled – she was still exhausted despite her long period of sleep, and was still protesting that it's simple physical requirements had yet to be met. Her mind was in turmoil, awash with bizarre half-formed thoughts and theories.

And in particular, one thought kept resurfacing, bobbing to the top of this tangled mental torrent. She pondered on it to keep her mind off her body's cries for attention, and she sat there, still and silent, numbed by it as the sun crept over the horizon and began it's long climb across the sky.

**Well, there we go. Chapter three, done and dusted. Not much happens in it, I know. It kinda feels as though I used a lot of words to say very little... but I'm exploring ^^ It has been a long while since my little brain decided to delve into the SHM psyche. I must say, I'm rather enjoying it, and I hope anyone who reads this does so too. And I have no idea if the SHM eat, as you know ... they're spirtyweirdtransformySephythings. I just decided they did, but kinda don't need to. Like Kadaj says, they're just spirits, remnants, things that aren't normal. I like to think that they might have seen people do 'normal' things, like eat, and they try to emulate it when they're not chasing after their mother's head. I think it's an adorable image ^^ but then again, I'm odd.**


	4. Living with Shadows

**Well this took a hell of a lot longer than I wanted it to. I'm sorry to the people I told it would be a week or two to like a month and a bit ago, but life took over, my brain died, and I'm terrible lazy. Sorry bout all this. As usual, thank you to the people who added me to lists and reviewed and stuff. I apologise for being so damn useless when it comes to updating shizz. **

_Living with shadows ..._

The sun rose, like it did every day, but its rays failed to warm the dusty ground of the Forgotten Capital. The sad truth was that Kadaj wouldn't have felt it even if it did.

He had often wondered what the sun felt like. He had often wondered what it was to feel 'warm'. He had often gazed listlessly into the sky, wondering, hoping, that one day he would be able to feel it.

Kadaj liked the sky. It was where Mother had come from, an avenging angel from the heavens. It was so vast and great, forever changing yet always stable, at least within his own memory. Yes, Kadaj liked the sky.

The sky led to home. They would travel the skies with Mother and she would take them home, as long as they were good and did what she told. Mother was amazing. She knew everything, and through her, Kadaj would learn everything. But he needed to find her and he didn't know how. It hurt him, deeply. He knew she was in trouble, almost destroyed by his traitor of a brother, lost and alone and in such pain, but he didn't know how to save her. It hurt him. Always hurt him.

He looked at his two faithful brothers. They were one and the same, brothers united by more than blood. But they were all different. So different.

Each was strong within their own right, but Yazoo and Loz had the power to work as a seamless team. Kadaj was always left to fight alone. In a way, he preferred it. He had always known he was the leader through some innate knowledge, and Yazoo and Loz had always followed him. He was the strongest, the closest to Mother, _the best_, and both of his brothers recognised this and generally followed his orders without question.

But it meant that he was alone, and Kadaj didn't like that. Ever since his birth, he had known he was alone. All three brothers felt it and were united by the desolate feeling, but the resentful loneliness all but consumed Kadaj. He hated it, feeling separated even from those he should have been most close to. But Loz was such a child, prone to tears and often distracted from all but the most serious of circumstances and Yazoo, well, Yazoo revelled in his distance from the world. He couldn't help but feel apart from them.

His brothers were always there in his mind, as was Mother's voice and the suffocating presence of _him_, but Kadaj was still alone. He didn't understand it, and he hated it.

Kadaj was always lonely. Forever alone, but never by himself, continually haunted by voices and presences and _him_. He knew that Mother was the only person who could bring peace, the only person who could end the torment, and for that fact alone, he would do anything for her.

.

Loz stomped up creaking stairs, furious and afraid. Kadaj had given him _that_ look, the look that could pierce the thickest of skins and cut to the bone. Loz wasn't particularly sure what he had done to warrant such a foul glare to be shot in his direction, but he was sure it wouldn't end well for him. Nothing tended to end well for _anyone_ when Kadaj used _that_ look.

Was he afraid of his little brother? Of course not. Perhaps. Maybe. Yes. Who wouldn't be? But Loz was also oblivious as to why he should be so afraid. Perhaps it was just Kadaj; an intense, red-hot bundle of ruthless anger ready to spring out and rain fiery pain down upon Loz's head if he did anything wrong. He was never very aware about what he had apparently done wrong, but more often than not, Loz did something that required Kadaj to cause him some great form of pain, and like a dog that is beaten by its owner, Loz learnt to fear the purveyor of such dreadful punishments. Even if said purveyor of punishments was his little brother.

"Up," Loz ordered as he reached the hostage's room. This was yet another thing he didn't understand. But apparently his job was to do what Kadaj said rather than understand the implications of what it was that he was doing.

The dishevelled girl on the floor glared up at him viciously. "I can't," she said through gritted teeth.

Loz regarded her blankly before pulling her on to her feet. "Better?"

"Not really."

Loz snorted in irritation, then remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "What do you want?"

"Eh?"

"Kadaj told me to see what you want," Loz said sulkily, scowling at his captive. He wanted to make it _very_ clear to her that this kindness was not being offered by his own free will. He didn't want this strange girl loitering around and taking up space. It would have been so much easier just to let her die.

"Um ... the bathroom?"

Enya found herself being pushed into yet another dingy dilapidated room which only just passed as a functioning bathroom and set about sorting herself out. She had never felt worse in her life and was incredibly grateful for the chance to alleviate at least some of the discomfort she was feeling.

"Hurry up!"

She scowled at the door, wishing profusely that Loz would just go away and leave her in peace. Apparently he was not a patient person.

When she was finished, she hobbled unsteadily out. "Finally!" exclaimed Loz, rolling his eyes at the ceiling. "Come on," he said and led the way down stairs.

Enya just looked at him. There was no way she would be able to go down those stairs unless it was by the process more commonly known as 'falling', something that Loz didn't seem to have planned for. Or perhaps that was his plan, maybe he wanted her to break her neck. She wouldn't put it past him.

"What're you waiting for? Come on!" he said, getting increasingly impatient.

Enya just sighed. "I can't," she said through gritted teeth.

Loz began to once more mutter under his breath as he stomped back up the stairs, threw Enya over his shoulder in a rather uncomfortable fireman's lift, then began his descent once more. Enya whimpered as a sudden pang of pain washed over her, but it began to fade quickly.

Loz took her outside and dumped her onto a large fallen tree trunk, still grumbling as he did so, before disappearing surprisingly quickly and quietly for a man as large as he was. Enya realised she was alone. She began to feel very, very nervous. Just what were those brothers planning?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flicker of movement and turned her head swiftly to see what it was. Kadaj was coming towards her, Yazoo floating after him, and she wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or more nervous. From the look on Kadaj's face, she decided to go with the latter.

"Talk," the lithe young man commanded as he came to a halt in front of her. She had never seen something so beautifully terrifying in her life as his eyes, alight with burning rage and nervous excitement. Her mouth went dry.

"About what?" she whispered and regretted it almost straight away, afraid of the reaction her question might provoke.

"About Sephiroth. About my mother. Talk, and you eat."

"What if I don't know anything?" Enya asked timidly, not particularly wanting to know the answer to that either. "What if I can't tell you anything?"

Kadaj smiled and her insides froze. "We won't need you. Don't talk and you die. Lie to us and you die. Tell the truth and I'll let you live." Behind him, Yazoo smirked vaguely, his hands cradling his shining silver gun.

"I ..." began Enya, but words failed her. She clasped her hands together to stop them shaking. This was not a good position to be in. At all.

"Start at the beginning," said Kadaj in a quiet voice. "How did you meet him?"

"He ... he found me."

"Where?"

"I don't know," she breathed, looking anywhere but into his eyes. "They never told me."

"They?"

"The scientists. At the lab."

"What did he tell you the last time?"

"N-not much. That he and your mother were going to the Promised Land, t-that he had a job that he wanted me to do," she paused and swallowed, wishing that her throat wasn't so dry. "He told me to watch over you. In case ... it went wrong."

"_It?_ You mean the Plan?"

She nodded nervously. "He didn't say much about it to me. Just what I already told you. I don't think even he knew what was going to happen after he got there."

"Mother does," said Yazoo quietly, then floated off into the house at a look from Kadaj, returning with what, to Enya's great jubilation, appeared to be food.

Kadaj sighed, seemingly deciding that it was enough for today. He brusquely thrust some food and a large beaker of water at her, then began pacing around impatiently while she fell on the offerings ravenously. Every bite hurt, every swallow grated at her throat, but she was far beyond caring about that.

After a while she realised that Kadaj had stopped pacing and was watching her eating with an expression of great interest.

"What's that like?" he asked curiously.

"Hmm?"

"The hunger," Kadaj said and shrugged. "The thirst. What's it like to have it go away?"

"Umm ... good? Why, don't you ... eat?"

"We don't need to," he scoffed dismissively. "We only need Mother. She'll give us everything we need."

"Oh," said Enya before continuing to heartily tuck into a large piece of bread, the sound of her repeated munching being the only thing to break the still silence.

"What was he like?" asked Kadaj after a while, sitting down cross-legged in front of her, still watching the way she was shovelling in food with fascination. It made her feel rather uncomfortable to be observed in such a way.

She swallowed a particularly large mouthful and followed it with a large gulp of water. "What, Sephiroth?"

"Who else?"

Enya frowned, trying to think of a suitable way to word the answer to such a question from such a person. She decided to go with something simple and vaguely true.

"He was the best. Strong, hugely powerful, very clever ... and angry. When he found out about ... your mother ... so angry ..."

"You were afraid of him?"

She stared at the dusty grey ground and nodded. "Not at first. But later ..."

"What? Tell me what!" Kadaj demanded impatiently, wild excitement once more forming in his eyes. "Tell me."

"He was just ... so angry," she said, her voice trembling as she realised what she was saying was basically the understatement of forever. "So filled with hate, injustice ... so angry ... it scared me. More than scared ... petrified."

Kadaj nodded in an understanding manner. "Yes. Sometimes ... it scares me too."

Enya frowned at the slight young man before her as a bizarrely comforting silence fell over them. He seemed to have suddenly calmed down and looked more childlike than ever. She watched his profile curiously, the odd little frown that creased his forehead as he began to play with shadows in his hands, entwining them between his gloved fingers and smiling at the oddly pretty patterns they made in the cool air.

"Scares you?" she asked gently, almost regretting doing so in case it prompted him to snap at her or worse. But curiosity had taken over her nervous fear of him, and she wondered exactly how Sephiroth, long dead and gone, could scare someone who was created from him, someone who had never met him or borne witness to his might but shared some part of his immense strength and power. How could someone as inhuman as Kadaj feel something as human as fear?

Kadaj nodded again, still watching the way the long tendrils of darkness danced between his fingertips. "We feel him. Sense him, you know? Somewhere deep inside, his voice, his presence ... it's there. Sometimes it feels like he gets angry with us. Sometimes ... it feels like we're failing Mother, and that makes him angry. And sometimes that scares me slightly."

"Understandably," said Enya, earning herself a sideways glance and what appeared to be the beginnings of a grateful smile. She decided that Kadaj was an extremely confusing person.

"I get jealous sometimes," he said sadly. "Sephiroth knew Mother, and I never did ... but what I feel doesn't really matter. As long as we find Mother. As long as we can find her ... well, when I find her, nothing will matter any more. Nothing other than Mother."

The next few months passed in a similar fashion. At first, every morning Loz would be sent up to drag Enya downstairs, then at the end of the day, sent back to drag her back upstairs. After a week or so the feeling in her leg increased and, with the aid of a mysteriously procured pair of crutches, she began to be able to transport herself around the rickety old building. Most mornings she would walk around outside, either alone or accompanied by one or more of the brothers, watching them as they whiled away the time. She found that she was slowly coming to understand the three of them, even, dare she say it, becoming mildly fond of them. They were still odd and scary and what could probably be described as clinically insane, but she found, as long as she was careful with what she said and avoided Kadaj when he was in one of his murderous moods, that she could get along with them fairly well.

They were often away for short periods of time, rarely all together in the house as one or another went out on individual missions to find 'Mother'. Enya had noticed how the older two would know what Kadaj wanted them to do without him uttering a word, automatically knowing where to go and what to do.

Loz, it seemed, was not quite as powerful as the other two despite his great physical strength. Yazoo decided to demonstrate this when he took it into his head to introduce Enya to the strange dark monsters they had under their command, as it appeared that Loz couldn't summon or control these things. He also used this odd demonstration as a wordless threat to notify Enya of what would probably be sent after her if she ever felt the urge to run away and try to tell someone of what was going on in the Forgotten Capital.

The brothers were also fascinated by every day little things such as cooking. They had watched with great interest as she made herself scrambled eggs, and were positively disgusted when they realised she was going to eat the squishy stuff. They were even more repulsed when they discovered what cheese really was and could not understand why people would want to gorge themselves on mouldy milk.

"You people are fucking weird," Loz had said, his nose crinkled in utter disgust. Enya had just shrugged and continued eating.

She was surprised that they were taking such good care of her. They were providing her with food and drink, something that she had most certainly not expected them to do, and she could not for the life of her figure out why they were doing so. She had the feeling it was something to do with Sephiroth, as every few days Kadaj would try to interrogate her about him again, but she really wasn't sure why they were still keeping her; she had told him everything she could without angering the young man and getting a twin-bladed-katana in the stomach. She couldn't help but feel that they were grateful for someone else to talk to, someone who wasn't them or an insistent presence in their heads. Or perhaps they were just toying with her. She had no idea.

Sometimes she saw Kadaj wonder off by himself, talking to the sky. She knew he was talking to his Mother, to the one thing he longed for more than anything else. He would always come back from these lonely excursions with a look of sad wonderment on his face. Yazoo and Loz would avoid him as much as possible for the next few hours, and Enya very quickly learnt to do the same. Talking to Mother always put Kadaj in the oddest of moods and he could explode or break down in tears at the slightest provocation. He was like a highly-strung pre-teen, filled with emotions and not knowing how to deal with them, therefore taking it out on whatever was to be found around him.

Just once, Kadaj seemed to lose it completely. They had returned from yet another unsuccessful search and something inside him must have snapped. He screamed at nothing in particular, stood there and screamed. He broke things and tried to hurt himself, cursing himself and his brothers for taking so long to find his poor, suffering mother. He pulled at his hair, clawed at his face, then fell to the floor and started sobbing, while the others just stared at him, not knowing what to do. When he arose, cold and in control once more, no one knew what to say to him. They were all afraid.

When he would segue into cruel, mocking bastard mode, he would seek Enya or one of his brothers, usually Loz, out in order to torment them about something or other and ultimately make himself feel better. There were a few occasions when Enya was sure that Kadaj would kill her in his icy cold rages, just for the fun of it. She was terrified of the twisted almost enjoyment he seemed to get out of her terror, and even more afraid of the change in him when he got control over himself once more. When he was in a good mood, he was more than happy to talk about whatever might be going through his mind in a perfectly normal manner, but he could change in the blink of an eye. He was volatile, deceptive and undeniably cruel, but sometimes ... sometimes, when he thought no one was looking, or on the rare occasion when he let himself slip out of being a monster and was just Kadaj for a while ... he seemed so innocent, so naïve and unsure of himself and the world around him.

It scared Enya more than his hatred and cruelty, because she just didn't know how to handle it. At least she had a vague idea of what she could and couldn't do when around the other two. She could cope with Yazoo's distant sense of mischievous malice and the wall of almost-indifference that surrounded him. She could deal with Loz's maddeningly childish tendencies and love of getting into arguments he couldn't win. As long as she was good and kept quiet and made certain to never under any circumstances ever say anything that could possibly insult 'Mother' when around them, she felt she could just about manage. But when it came to Kadaj? She didn't have a clue what to do, think or feel.

But as Kadaj's temperament became even more unpredictable and the tension in the air grew thicker, she became certain of one thing. Soon, very soon, something was going to happen. Something was going to change and events would be set in motion. She could see it in the eyes of the three men who surrounded her, a dim light that was steadily starting to burn brighter. The time was drawing closer. Something was going to break, and she hoped to high hell that it was not going to be her.

**Bloody hell, that took far too long. But here we are. About to embark into the world of the film once more. Once again, I am sorry for sucking so much and taking forever to update. Reviews do spur me to do so though because I feel guilty if I don't when people have reviewed. Next chapter will probably take a while unless I get into another huge writing mood again, but I at least know for sure what's happening from now on, so updates (should) be swifter. Not that I can really promise anything. Life's buuuuuusy at the moment.**


	5. The First Shot

**OH DEAR GOD I AM SORRY. I AM HORRENDOUS AT UPDATING. This took soooooooooooo long! AHH _ I don't even know why it took so long. My brain doesn't work, I guess. My unreserved apologies to anyone who might still be reading this. Seriously, I'm going to slap my head into the wall until I can start updating properly. I've also discovered that I only get inspiration waves for fanfics when I have lots of homework that I really don't want to do. This is probably not a good thing. However, I have lots of exams like ... now! So I may actually end up writing! WOO! Well, not woo, but still ...**

**This isn't the longest of chapters and I'm so so SO sorry that after all this time, it's not the meatiest of beasts. However, I felt the chapter sort of came to it's own end and that to carry it on much further would just be pointless.**

_The First Shot_

It began with a whisper. Just a whisper. Kadaj could feel it stirring, deep inside him. Just the tiniest of whispers, a distant tug on the heartstrings. A voice, drifting from far away, crying, begging, wailing.

Mother.

Mother was hurt. Mother was suffering. Mother needed her children.

Mother needed him.

And what kind of son would he be if he didn't rush to her rescue?

The brothers were called together. They could all hear it, could all hear her. It hurt them. Physically hurt them, a distant deafening cacophony of agonising pain. Mother was hurt. Mother was crying.

If only they knew where she was ...

It was pushing Kadaj over the edge; this mixture of desperate, impatient knowledge and terrible uncertainty. He knew his mother was somewhere, somewhere not too far, somewhere close ... and he knew it was time. Time for what, he wasn't too sure. He didn't know what it was he had to do. He could feel the voice of _him_ stirring, pushing him onwards. _Time_, _he _said, _the time has come, Kadaj. Time is running out._

So many voices, all screaming at him. All telling him to do things, without ever actually explaining what it was he was supposed to be doing.

_Reunion._

He _had_ to find Mother, just _had _to. That was the important thing; _she _was the important thing. Everything would be fine, as long as Mother was found. She would guide him. She would keep him safe. She would bring him the peace he longed for, as their family left on a glorious journey.

But he couldn't help but fear that he might be left behind. He knew his brothers feared the same – it was a great burden upon their closely entwined minds. How could they, mere shadows, compete with the might of Biggest Brother, that terrible herald of the apocalypse, Sephiroth? Who could hold a candle to that destructive flame? He had been something whole, something stunning - beautifully powerful, the ultimate warrior, the ultimate son. Mother would never choose mere ghosts over a god.

But ... well, that didn't matter. None of that mattered, not really, not in the _grand scheme_, not in The Plan. His opinion accounted for naught in the Plan. He had a purpose to serve, a job to do, and other than that, nothing else mattered. All for Mother. Only Mother.

Only Mother.

Something was up. The tension was about to break.

Enya could feel it in the air, could see it in the strained faces of the three brothers. She instinctively kept to her room, and kept quiet. She did not ask questions, she did not make eye contact. She remained as hidden as possible, terrified that one wrong move would mean the end of her.

Fidgety silence fell over the house for several days. The brothers never spoke. They didn't need to, the mental bond growing between them as every second dripped past, their footsteps echoing on endlessly as they paced furiously, and waited. It was the calm before the storm, the very air charged with their impatience, with their increasingly desperate thoughts.

They could barely contain their excitement.

And then, a dark voice rose from within them and, in a single moment, all three of them _knew_. They felt foolish. They had been there before. It was there, her location, it had always been there, within a shared mind that belonged to a dead man. They could have accessed it any time, but they hadn't known before. Mother had been sleeping, to weak to call out, and they had had no idea. But now they knew, and now it was time.

Night turned to day, and as the sun rose and began to scorch the sky, three engines roared towards the mountains.

The effort it took Enya to look out the window amazed her. She sat on her bed long after the growl of the motorbikes had faded into the distance and silence settled all around her. Everything ... it was all so ... quiet. The sound of her breath creeping in and out of her lungs was loud and rough. They were ... gone. Had just left without a word. She was alone.

She forced herself up onto stumbling feet and crept towards the window. She peaked out nervously, hardly daring to believe it. But unless her eyes were deceiving her, it was true. The great dark metal monsters of bikes were no longer there. They had gone. All three of them had gone.

She was alone for the first time in months.

She slowly slid down the wall, feeling utterly confused. She was alone in the house, alone in the forest with only ancient ghosts for company. They had gone.

There was nothing to keep her here now, absolutely nothing. No silver haired captors or shadowy beasts to keep her from running. She was free.

So what the hell did she do now?

Snow and ice – harsh, cruel and bitter. An unforgiving landscape.

The brothers knew that they should feel cold, that the spiralling blizzard of sharp, frozen water should chill their bones and steal the heat from their flesh. But there was nothing. It acted only as a mere inconvenience, slowing their progress and further increasing their frustration.

It was hard to see, hard to move. But the brothers did not need to see when they could feel Mother's hands gripping their hearts, and her voice assaulting their minds. Her sorrowful, scared wailing grew louder and louder as they came forward, and they knew that they were close, so close, so very, very near to her ...

Then, they heard voices. Other voices, human voices, drifting through the muffling silence of snow, and the loud roar of arctic winds ...

And the three brothers fought their way forward, shadow children clothed in darkness, as they drew ever closer to the sounds of an agonised Mother and the rhythmic thudding of helicopter blades in wintry air.

Enya wandered, listless and uncertain. Should she leave? What would they do if they returned and she was gone?

Hunt her down with their strange shadow creatures, probably. She knew too much. They'd kill her for sure, if she left. They had told her so in no uncertain terms. She was merely kept alive through some bizarre whim, and she knew they'd have no qualms about changing their minds and killing her.

But then, if they found their mother, perhaps they would let her go. Maybe they wouldn't spare her another thought, they would have bigger things on their minds – the destruction of the world for one. Surely, Jenova and Sephiroth would demand all their attention as they strived to make the Reunion complete.

But what if they failed? If they were to return beset by failure, enraged and incensed and still motherless – what would they do to her then? Kadaj was unpredictable at the best of times, who knew what he would do in what he would consider one of the worst occasions possible. Probably something horrendously painful.

But if they succeeded ... if they found _her, _their most beloved Mother_ ... _they wouldn't come back, not here, would they?. It would all be obsolete, because _he_ would be back, Sephiroth would return. If they found Jenova, nothing would matter anymore. If they found Jenova, it would probably result in the end of the world.

Yazoo had always been the best shot. A marksman by nature, he preferred the distant anonymity a gun provided, despite the fact he was more than adept at close combat fighting. Killing from afar in Mother's name, with steady aim and a steady hand provided him with a quiet clarity. It was fantastic, a pure, brilliant moment when the voices would cease and the world would fall still and empty – just him and his Velvet Nightmare and the sweet knowledge that he was doing something _right_.

But Kadaj did not call upon these skills very often, preferring to send his brothers in to make the fight a more personal matter. And Yazoo never complained. Instead, he cherished the rare and delicious moments of peace his emotional whirlwind of a younger brother allowed him.

And it was almost time for another one.

Kadaj was beside himself, that Yazoo knew. He could feel the rage radiating off his strangely silent little brother, could sense the barely-contained fury that was desperate to escape. Kadaj's mako-eyes darted continually over rock and ice, following the pull of _Mother, _and surely it wouldn't be long until they found her ...

But those voices, those sickeningly human voices ... Yazoo listened as carefully as he could, and the other two did the same, falling as still as stone. Voices ... male and female ... a man and a woman, discussing the discovery of ... _something_.

_'Found it.'_

Fearfully, they started forward, and then Yazoo saw.

And then the world became as clear and brittle as a thin layer of ice. His two brothers froze beside him, silent shadows in the snow. Everything slowed and was felt a hundred times harder than it should have done – the roaring power of the bitter wind around them, the thud-thud-thud and rumble of the helicopter in the shimmering sky. The ice-cold rage that plunged through three shadowed hearts as they realised that Mother was being taken away.

So it was with great joy that Yazoo took aim from the dark, slender fingers caressing the trigger, Mother's fading screams ringing in his ears, growing more distant with each sluggish second that dripped by. He saw through the snow, ignored the incessant, outraged buzzing presence of Kadaj by his side, and in one of those moments of pure, pleasant clarity, he squeezed.

The bullet tore through air and flesh. The woman fell.

Kadaj advanced, cruel intention in every movement, as a dark haired man leapt to the rescue and into a path of yet another speeding bullet.

Yazoo smiled. He looked towards the sky as the helicopter ascended, while Loz fired a few useless shots after it. Kadaj reached towards the injured man as he bled into the floor, a merciless smile twisting a youthful face filled with insanity. Yazoo did not listen to the venomous words promising vengeance and torture. He didn't need to. He knew it would come regardless.

Mother might have been gone, but the time of waiting was over. The existence of the Remnants was no longer hollow – their purpose was about to be served. Finally, it was the time for action, for things to happen and to be done. A war had begun, a desperate race for the domination of this shattered world, and Yazoo would forever be proud that it was he who fired the first shot.

Indecision plagued her as she sat in the dust. Watching, waiting, for something, anything, a sign as to what she must do. She didn't know. She didn't have a clue what to decide.

If she left, where would she go? Somewhere safe, preferably ... but where would that be? She was miles from anywhere in particular and didn't know where to go. Her maps were gone, taken along with the rest of her stuff by the brothers, and she only vaguely knew the layout of the land from memory. It took a long time to reach anywhere by foot and this was hardly the most populated area. Where could she go for help? To the town in the north? She didn't know where it was or how to get there. What was the point in wandering the wilderness?

So Enya decided to stay in the Forbidden Capital. There was shelter here, and nothing seemed to want to attack her. As far as she could see, there was no where she could go without being thoroughly doomed.

It was not a particularly comforting sentiment, and she couldn't cope with the damp oppression of being inside. She went outside and moped in the dust, waiting for whatever would happen next.

She didn't think she had ever been anywhere so ... _quiet _before. It was as if even nature treated the area with reverence, infused as it was with a deep, ancient magic. It was unnerving, lonely and frankly, rather terrifying.

But despite the fact she was all alone, she couldn't help but feel as if she were being watched, as if unseen eyes were following her every movement. And that was possibly more terrifying than anything else.

Being a Turk had never been an easy job. You were the one who did all the dirty work, the one who carried out the master plans and asked as few questions as possible. You did what you were told to do, and well, more often than not that wasn't the most savoury of businesses. You were trained to deal with terrible situations, and most of all, get the objective done. Or at least, that was the general idea anyway. Unfortunately, more often and not, other people had different thoughts on how the situations would go ...

But Rufus was reforming and rebuilding the Shinra company, trying to regain respect, trying to make amends. It was a much less shady business than it had been ... mostly. Reno had hoped that the relatively quiet times would last, or at least, last a little bit longer than two measly years. It had been nice, or as nice as the end of an era could be. At least Sephiroth wasn't around any more.

Or so they had thought.

"Reno? Reno, are you there?"

"Yes, Boss," said Reno heavily.

"We have to move quickly," said the voice of Rufus Shinra through the radio. "Get back to base immediately."

"Yes, Boss."

"It won't be long until those ... things down there put two and two together. They'll find us. We have to be ready."

"Yes, Boss."

"Tseng and Elena are strong. They'll be fine."

"Sure. Of course they will. Who said they wouldn't be?"

"Just get back, Reno."

"You got it, Boss."

Yes, being a Turk had never been an easy job. But despite all the rough times they'd been through together, or perhaps because of them, it was still hard to leave someone behind.

**Sorry again for the lateness and length, or lack there of. Hopefully I'll have enough time/motivation to work on this again fairly soon, although as I said, impending exams and coursework deadlines may interfere. And thank you to those who alerted and favourited and stuffs ^^**


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